Swansea University says that it has made a ¡°formal criminal complaint¡± after investigating issues related to a ?200 million development project.

Swansea suspended its vice-chancellor, Richard Davies, in November. Marc Clement, dean of the university¡¯s management school, and two other staff members, were also suspended at the same time.

The suspensions appear to have been linked to concerns over plans to build a ?200 million Wellness Village at Llanelli, part of the ?1.3 billion Swansea Bay City Deal.

A Swansea spokeswoman said that the university ¡°has been in regular dialogue with the authorities since November 2018 based on the findings of our initial investigation. A formal criminal complaint has been made and the matter is with South Wales Police and Dyfed Powys Police.

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¡°We will of course continue to cooperate fully with them. Our processes, which are being carried out by an independent investigator, are ongoing.¡±

The university did not state the nature of the complaint, or against whom it had filed the complaint.

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A police spokeswoman said: ¡°Dyfed-Powys Police and South Wales Police can confirm that they have received a complaint which is currently subject to consideration by both forces.¡±

In a 10-page grievance letter to the university council?that emerged last month, Professor Davies said that the Wellness Village project took up 75 per cent of the ¡°column centimetres¡± in the suspension letter that he received, with the rest detailing allegations that he ¡°failed to assure appropriate due diligence, governance and systems of control around major projects and commercial activities of the university¡±.

He accused the university registrar of trying to ¡°seize the position of vice-chancellor¡± and said that the university council has been ¡°negligent in permitting this manifestly unfair concentration of power in the hands of one person¡±.

john.morgan@timeshighereducation.com